Creative Migrations

27th Annual Literary Festival
Old Dominion University
4-8 October 2004

DAVE HICKEY

Dave Hickey is the Distinguished Guest Professor in Residence
at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, CA. He is a free-lance
writer and cultural critic whose subject has been the critical response
to the paradigm shift in the art world since the 1970's. Hickey maintains
the need for the art world to talk about authenticity again, about what
artists feel, and their identity. "Rather than dealing with cultural
identity, I am interested in the interface of cultures -- the impurity
and reconciliation of various cultures, about how one culture impacts
another." Hickey writes about works of art that can change meaning
as you look at them, either through simplicity or complexity. "Good
art, to survive, must change its meaning." Hickey has written numerous
exhibition catalogue monographs on a diverse range of contemporary artists
including Ann Hamilton, Richard Serra, Robert Gober, Edward Ruscha, Terry
Allen, Andy Warhol, Luis Jimenez and Michaelangelo Pisteletto. His work
has appeared in most major American cultural publications including The
Rolling Stone, Art News, Art in America, Artforum,
Harper's Magazine, Vanity Fair, The New York Times,
and The Los Angeles Times. His critical essays have been collected
in two volumes, The Invisible Dragon: Four Essays on Beauty and
Air Guitar, Essays on Art and Democracy. His most recent book,
Stardumb, is a collection of stories with drawings by artist John
DeFazio.[extracted from 2004 brochure]